Southport and Birkdale (1pt) 75 lost to New Brighton (20pts) 76 for 2 by eight wickets

Southport and Birkdale (1pt) 75 lost to New Brighton (20pts) 76 for 2 by eight wickets

SOUTHPORT and Birkdale's clueless performance in their eight-wicket defeat at New Brighton on Saturday was plainly unfit for the purpose of playing Premier League cricket.

Faced with a very competent but scarcely frightening attack on a helpful wicket which had been left uncovered overnight, most of S&B's batsmen got themselves out essaying grossly irresponsible shots and the side was therefore dismissed for 75 in 25.1 overs.

The home batsmen then took just 46 minutes to knock the runs off and the entire match lasted less than three hours. Some travelling supporters were home in time to see Sol Campbell presented with the FA Cup.

What was particularly depressing about the dismal procession to and from the Rake Lane pavilion was that if they couldn't hit boundaries, the majority of Mark Fletcher's batsmen appeared to have little idea how to accumulate runs.

To his credit, this crippling weakness was acknowledged by the captain after the game. "If you play like you practice, it catches up with you," said Fletcher, referring to some individuals' bad habit of whacking a few imagined fours in the nets, getting out, and carrying on batting, rather than using the time to build an innings as you need to do in a match.

Fletcher promised alterations to training sessions at Trafalgar Road and the small band of loyalists who made the trip to the Wirral will hope they have an immediate effect.

Otherwise, more fundamental changes may be needed. The Liverpool Competition's Premier League is no place for players who can't buckle down.

New Brighton's bowlers seized on the visitors' vulnerabilities with the enthusiasm of peckish piranhas, but over the next 15 days S&B are also due to face Bootle (twice), Fleetwood Hesketh, Northern and Ormskirk, all teams lying in the top five of the Premier League.

However, once the strong criticism is out of the way, it is true that Fletcher's men are currently in the top five too, and some of the cricketers who batted poorly at Rake Lane - Jason Marsh and Chris Firth are two examples - produced innings of maturity and judgement against Colwyn Bay the previous week.

S&B played some startlingly abysmal cricket on Saturday - the top three were all dismissed playing expansive drives - but the side is not a poor one.

It just needs reminding that talent amounts to very little if not accompanied by technique, temperament, judgement and hard work.

Tim Watkins' three-pronged attack must also get its share of praise. Nazir Mohammed claimed the prize wicket when Patrick Jackson played on, but veteran seamer Louis Botes was the pick of the trio, taking five for 17 by bowling straight and full while extracting just enough movement from the surface.

Faced by a low total, the New Brighton batsmen grabbed the initiative almost immediately although they were helped by some wayward bowling.

Nonetheless, Josh Hine, having been castled by a good 'un in the first innings of the match, produced a rather better spell than his figures indicated and the slower ball which accounted for Paul Hale was the moment of the day for S&B supporters.